May 04
The Stupid, It Kills.
There’s lots of dangerous anti-science nonsense going around at the moment, with today’s highlight being that Oprah Winfrey, who controls the minds and opinions of millions of people, has made a deal with antivaccination loon Jenny McCarthy to shill her well-meaning but wrong ideas about vaccination and autism.
The Bad Astronomer is very disappointed, and he often uses this graphic to illustrate his feelings about an issue:
I think a stronger message is required. Preventable diseases are on the rise around the world. Babies too young to be vaccinated are dying because the children around them have well-meaning but wrong parents who have been taken in by the propaganda mix of scare tactics and anecdote, and decided not to vaccinate their children.
The longer this goes on, the higher the death toll. The Stupid, It Kills.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
/signed.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:46 am
I think I missed the part where Jenny McCarthy became an authority on anything.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Amanda Peet has stood up to tell us to ignore celebs in favour of listening to experts, and to ignore Jenny McCarthy in particular. And yes, she’s aware of the irony of using her celebrity to say that.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AutismNews/Story?id=5483159&page=1
Regarding her ‘parasites’ comment, teh wiki sez: “In an interview with Cookie, Peet stated: “Frankly, I feel that parents who don’t vaccinate their children are parasites,” referring to the benefit unvaccinated children derive from herd immunity and the concern that dropping vaccination rates may put all children at increased risk of preventable disease.” Which may not be all that inaccurate, really. But ignorant people had their feelings hurt. Boo hoo.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:13 am
They mean well. They’re just stubborn and wrong, wrong, wrong.